Five years after the last American troops left Afghanistan, the Taliban are asking Washington to come back–not with soldiers, but with diplomats and money. On August 14, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told The New York Times that the United States could reopen its embassy and invest in mines, dams and roads. “We consider the chapter of war to have come to an end,” he said.

Two weeks later, he sharpened the pitch to the Financial Times, welcoming US investment in mining and infrastructure and putting Afghanistan’s estimated $1 trillion mineral wealth on the table.

Washington, however, is sending almost the opposite signal. The embassy has been closed since August 31, 2021; the Afghanistan Affairs Unit remains in Doha; Afghanistan is still under a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory; and on the fifth anniversary of Abbey Gate, President Donald Trump again described the withdrawal as a disaster and accused the Taliban of freeing thousands of prisoners from Bagram. Hardly the language of an administration preparing an easy return!

Security threats, regional competition and geography have repeatedly pulled Afghanistan back onto the US agenda.

Security threats, regional competition and geography have repeatedly pulled Afghanistan back onto the US agenda.

Former US Ambassador Ronald E Neumann did not dismiss the possibility. “Yes, I can imagine that,” he noted in an interview, but his operative phrase was “real actions for real actions.” An embassy should not be exchanged for promises, and the Taliban would first have to make measurable changes, particularly on women and girls. “If you do things like opening an embassy without getting anything in return,” Neumann warned, Kabul would conclude that it could simply “stay put” until Washington changed its position.

The Taliban, meanwhile, have learned how to obtain many benefits of recognition without it. Russia........

© Daily Times